


Late Night Rendezvous

by Control_Room



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Im a sucker for platonic shit, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Soulmates, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-12 01:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18000827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Control_Room/pseuds/Control_Room
Summary: Esther wakes up and finds something special.





	Late Night Rendezvous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [phantomthief_fee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Fine Art of Self-Deprecation](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17270357) by [phantomthief_fee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/pseuds/phantomthief_fee). 



Esther stirred in her sleep, groggily waking up. Robert was snoring quietly beside her. She smiled softly, carding a hand through his light hair, kissing his temple gently. He mumbled something with a half smile gracing his features, turning on his side. Esther yawned and got up to go to the kitchen for a drink. She stretched out her arms as she walked, her palms brushing the mantle. She stole quietly through the hall, but froze outside of the room they designated as her brother’s until further notice. It was quiet.

 

And that was the problem.

 

Esther stopped, pressing her ear to the door. Nothing. She knew her brother, and she knew that he was in no possible way a quiet sleeper. That had not changed in the time that they were split apart by school and the studio and the studio for a second, longer, more painful, time. She creaked open the door, slipping in.

 

“Jojo?” she whispered, “Are you in here?”

 

She stumbled a moment, and caught herself on the wall, feeling for the table in the room. She sighed with relief when she found it, flicking on the desk light, and looked around. Her blood ran cold. The room was empty, but the bed was untouched, made that morning by a very meticulous Isaac. It calmed her slightly, meaning that he had not gone back to his room, then something happening that drove him out. She breathed in for a few seconds, calming herself, telling herself to be rational, to calm down. She turned back off the light and left the room, closing the door behind herself, silently creeping down the steps, running a hand through her dusty brown hair. She tiptoed into the kitchen, pouring for herself a glass of orange juice, swirling the citrusy liquid in the cup, staring at its opacity. Like ink.

 

She shook the thought from her head. It was over. There was no need to go back. Look at going back in a positive light! It was how she met Johan, to prove that! She sipped her drink, leaning against the table, gazing out the window at the dark sky, freckled with stars. It reminded her of her brother. And that reminded her that she still had not found him. She pushed herself from the table, sighing and going off to look for him. She passed the living room, but a quiet static made her pause. Oh, right, she and Joey had been watching a movie, and she had gone up to bed before him. Maybe he was still watching. She went to go back, able to see the light of the television set, and for the third time that night, she found herself stopping before peaking in. There was a quiet whispering, and she thought that Joey had either gone completely mad and was talking to himself, before he cut himself off, in a softer tone than Joey would use. She knew that tone and it made her smile.

 

Johan was back again, seemingly getting acquainted with her dear little brother. The way the two spoke were like two school girls, light and giggly and soft. Little sounds would occasionally breach their speech, mostly Joey’s she realized, little hums of contentedness and sighs of relaxation, as Johan would continue talking, so low she could not make out a single word. She knew that it was rude to eavesdrop, and completely improper to lean in and spy to see for herself, but she also desperately wanted to know what was happening between the two. She found the craving for knowing outweighing her natural dectorum, and she leaned over carefully to be able to see within the room.

 

Joey and Johan were in the loveseat (unironically, she decided with a badly suppressed smirk), Joey with an arm over the side of the armrest, the other wrapped around Johan, resting his hand on the man’s side. Johan, like a snake whose head and tail could not decide which end to face, had one leg over the armrest, mimicking Joey’s arm, the other lightly resting on the floor. Johan himself was twisted round to face her brother, one of his hands gently caressing his cheek and the other rubbing his back, coming every now and then to rest on Joey’s shoulder. His lips were on Joey’s cheek and jaw, gently pressing kisses, whispering to him. Joey, lightly flustered, was relaxing into the other’s touches, accepting them happily. Joey murmured something to him, tilting his head to give Johan more room for his kisses. Johan hummed in reply. Esther, smiling to herself leaned a little closer to be able to hear their hushed conversation.

 

“Things will get better,” she could make out Johan promising him. “And the other Joeys could help you get back on your feet. It’s hard to find someone who can relate to you as much as yourself, you know?”

 

“Yeah, I know,” Joey breathed, swiping a hand over his face. “But I don’t really know….”

 

“They’ll love you,” Johan told him softly. “They all will.”

 

“I’m not so sure, Johan,” Joey replied, melting as Johan pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw, sighing with a half smile. “Mm… right there’s nice.”

 

“Back or lips?” Johan asked in a gentle tease. Joey chuckled, leaning to kiss Johan’s forehead, earning a hum. “Trust me, Freckle. Almost all the other Joeys are very kind, or at least none of them are truly wicked.”

 

“Maybe, we can…” Joey sighed, peace disallowing him from finishing his sentence. Johan rested his head on Joey’s chest, hearing the beat and allowing it to lull him into a calm. Esther’s own heart melted at their connection, innately loving each other, but… it did not seem romantic, their hands meeting and just holding, Johan pulling up his knees to curl up beside his alternate self. “We can go soon.”

 

“You’ll love it, I can assure you,” Johan beamed, pecking a kiss to Joey’s cheek before returning to Joey’s chest. “Trust me, Freckle.”

 

“Who’s Freckle?” Esther asked, accidentally aloud. Both Joeys snapped up to look at her, Joey mortified and Johan startled. Esther turned pink as Joey went red under his freckles and Johan’s cheeks flushed considerably, even with his dark skin. “Oops. Sorry.”

 

“Joey is Freckle,” Johan answered, his hand tightening on Joey’s. Esther nodded, then realized something, frowning to ask a question. Johan answered it before she could. “He can touch me because we are already the same coding, at least to my world.”

 

“Ah.” was her very wise response. She smiled at them, making her brother flush even more, hiding his face in his hands. “Don’t stay up too late, you two lovebirds.”

 

“Don’t worry,” he grumbled. “I was planning on going to bed in a few minutes, anyways. And hey! We’re not in love! We’re just… you know!”

 

“All Joeys are interconnected in someway, some more than others,” Johan continued for him. “Consider it platonic soul mates, if you will.”

 

“Interesting,” Esther hummed. Johan made himself comfortable on Joey’s chest again, exhaling (without a rise or fall of his chest, Esther duly noted). Joey glared at Esther impatiently, the hand he was not holding Johan’s with pointing at the door. “Alright, alright, I’m going.”

 

“Goodnight, Est,” two voices chimed after her.

 

She paused, again, and a smile bloomed on her lips. Things would be good, like Johan said.

 

The quiet murmur of theirs dopplered behind her, she yawned, slipping back into bed.

 

She was contented.


End file.
